Folding high chair



Jan. 15, 1957 w. J. GRACE FOLDING HIGH CHAIR 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May9, 1955 INVENTOR. WILLIAM J. GRACE BY lliow a Jan. 15, 1957 w. J. GRACEFOLDING HIGH CHAIR Filed May 9, 1955 v 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 7 FIG.

FIG. 4

INVENTOR. WILLIAM J- GRACE aliow a A TTORN FOLDING HIGH CHAIR William.l'. Grace, Santa Monica, Calif.

Application May 9, 1955, Serial No. 506,805

4 Claims. (Cl. 155-147) This invention relates generally to chairs forseating and/ or feeding young children, and more particularly to animproved high chair which may be conveniently folded into a compactstructure when not in use.

The advantages of a reliable and inexpensive folding type high chair forchildren, especially in crowded living conditions, are apparent. It isimportant that such a high chair not collapse unintentionally as someprior art type of conventional chairs are prone to do. Further it isdesirable that the chair be rugged, inexpensive, and simple to operate.

A primary object of the present invention accordingly, is to provide afolding high chair which is sturdy and dependable when in unfolded,operative position, and yet one which may be easily folded without theuse of special tools and the like.

More particularly, an object is to provide a folding high chair of theabove type which is adapted to stand by itself when folded, or be easilycarried about while in such position.

Another important object of the invention is to provide a folding highchair which employs a minimum number of standard movable pieces wherebyits cost of manufacture is minimized.

These and further objects and advantages of this invention are attainedby providing seven basic elements or pieces which may each be massproduced and which, when coupled together, form a sturdy and securefoldable high chair for children.

Two of the basic elements comprise first and second inverted U shapedmembers having their legs respectively pivoted together in scissorsfashion to form a supporting structure for the remaining elements. Threeother mem-' bers respectively provide a back rest, seat, and foot rest.The front edge of the seat member is coupled to the upper edge of thefoot rest and to the central portion of the second inverted U shapedmember. The rear edge of the seat is similarly coupled to the lower edgeof the back rest and to the upper portion of the first inverted U shapedmember.

A third U shaped member is horizontally positioned to encircle the rearportion of the back rest to which it is pivoted. The free ends of thisthird U shaped member extend forward above the seat to form arm reststerminating in downturned ends adapted to rest on the top front edgecorners of the seat. A tray member is slidably secured between the armrests. curing means are provided for holding the downturned end portionsof the arm rests securely to the seat, and a further locking means isprovided on the foot rest and arranged, upon downward swinging movementof the foot rest to operative position, to secure the central portion ofthe first U shaped member in position.

To fold the chair, it is only necessary to remove the Temporary se-2,777,593 Patented Jan. 15, 1957 ice temporary securing means from thearm rests, swing the foot rest upwardly to unlock the second U shapedmemher, and then scissor the structure together. The tray and arm restsswing downwardly into a compact position with the first and secondU-shaped members, and the upper central U shaped portion of the first Ushaped member provides a convenient carrying handle.

A better understanding of the invention will be had by referring to theaccompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a perspective view of the folding high chair of this inventionin unfolded, operative position;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of that portion of Fig. 1enclosed by the circular arrow 2;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of that portion of Fig. 1enclosed in the circular arrow 3;

Fig. 4 is a side view of the chair of Fig. 1, during an initial stage ofthe folding operation; and,

Fig. 5 is another side view of the chair in its completely foldedposition.

Referring to Fig. 1, the high chair is shown in unfolded operativeposition as comprising first and second inverted U-shaped members 10 and11. The free ends of these U members form the four supporting legs forthe chair. A third U shaped member 12 is in a generally horizontalposition. These three U members are preferably formed from metallictubing and each may be inexpensively mass produced in its own particularshape.

The remaining elements of the chair comprise a back rest 13, a seatmember 14, a foot rest 15, and a tray 16. These latter four elements maybe formed from metal, wood, plastic or any other suitable material. Asin the case of the U shaped members, each may be inexpensively massproduced in its own form. In accordance with the invention, these sevenbasic elements are coupled together to form a reliable, simple, andinexpensive folding high chair. I,

As will be clear from Fig. 1, the second inverted U- shaped member 11 ismade shorter and narrower than the first member 10 whereby it may benestled between the legs of the first member. As shown, the respectivelegs of the members 10 and 11 are pivoted intermediate their ends inscissors fashion as at 17 and 18. The central U shaped portion of thethird U member 12 is arranged to encircle the rear of the back rest 13and is pivoted thereto by means of small metal strips 19 and 20encircling the central portion of the U member 12 and fixedly secured tothe back rest. This pivoted connection is spaced above the lower edge ofthe back rest 13 whereby the central U portion serves to support theback rest. I

The free ends of the U member 12 extend forward above the seat 14 toform arm rests terminating in downwardly turned ends adapted to rest onthe top front edge corners of the seat 14. The tray 16 may be slidablysecured to these arm rest portions by means of small metal bands 21 and22 which encircle portions of the arm rests and have their ends fixedlysecured to the underside of the tray. The downwardly turned end portionsof the arm rests are adapted to be held against the top of the seat bytemporary screw means.

A first coupling means is provided for pivotally con necting the frontedge of the seat 14, and upper edge of the foot rest 15 to the centralportion of the second.

inverted U-shaped member 11. A second coupling means similarly pivotallyconnects the rear edge of the seat 14 and lower edge of the back rest13to the cen tral portion of the first inverted U shaped member 10.

' The first coupling means, as well as the temporary secur- 3 ing means,are shown in greater detail in the enlarged view of Fig. 2.

As shown in Fig. 2, the downwardly turned end por tions of the U shapedmember 12 are adapted to threadedly receive the ends of cooperatingknurled screw members 23 and 24, passing up respectively throughsuitable bores in the front edge corners of the seat 14. These knurledscrews may be manually operated to securely lock the arm rests to theseat, yet be easily unthreaded by hand to release the arms when it isdesired to fold the chair, as will become clearer as the descriptionproceeds.

The first coupling means includes a plate member 26 secured under thefront edge of the seat 14 and provided with forward corner tabs 27 and28 encircling the end portions of a pivot pin 29. A similar plate member30 is fixedly secured to the upper edge of the foot rest 15 and providedwith forward corner tab elements 31 and 32 also encircling portions ofthe pivot pin 29. The plate member 26 on the underside of the seat 14has its center forward edge curved downwardly and rearwardly to form ahook 33 adapted to receive the central U shaped portion of the secondinverted U shaped member 11. In order to secure this portion within thehook 33, portions of the plate member 30 on the upper edge of the footrest are bent down to form locking hooks 34 and 35. These hooks areadapted to engage and secure the central portion of the second invertedU shaped member 11 within the hook 33 when the foot rest is swungdownwardly in the direction of the arrow into its unfolded operativeposition. In Fig. 2 the foot rest is shown swung slightly outwardly toillustrate the locking hooks clearly.

It will be evident that with the knurled screws 23 and 24 tightened tohold the arm rests securely to the seat, and with the foot rest swungdown into proper position, the chair will be securely locked in unfoldedposition and cannot be inadvertently collapsed. An infants feet restingon the foot rest in addition to gravity will insure that the foot restremains in its operative position so that there will be no possibilityof the central portion of the second inverted U shaped member 11 comingout of the hook 33.

In Fig. 3, the second coupling means pivotally securing the rear edge ofthe seat 14, the upper portions of the first U shaped member 10, and thelower edge of the back rest13, are shown in greater detail. Rigidlyattached to the lower corner portions of the back rest are strips 36 and37 having their free ends encircling the end portions of a pivot pin 38.A journalling means 39 rigidly secured along one edge to the undersideof the rear edge portion of the seat 14, has its other edge designed tojournal the pivot pin 33. Portions of this edge are cut away toaccommodate the strips 36 and 37 and to define outer corners 40 and 41,and a central portion 42 journalling the pivot pin.

By the above described arrangement, it will be apparent that once thearm rest securing means in the form of the knurled knobs 23 and 24 areunlocked, the back rest 13, together with the arm rests, may moveforward, the lower edge of the back rest pivoting about the pivot pin38. Additionally, once the second U shaped member 11 is unlocked fromunder the front edge portion of the seat 14 as described previously, theseat may also pivot about the pivot pin 38 independently of the motionof the back rest.

The operation of the folding high chair will be evident from the abovedescription. When it is desired to fold up the chair from the operativeposition shown in Fig. 1 to a compact position for storing purposes, thetray member 16 is first moved forward on he arm rests as indicated bythe arrow in Fig. 4 and the knurled knobs 23 and 24 unlocked from thearm rests. The leg rest 15 is then swung outwardly and upwardly toseparate the central upper portion of the second U shaped member 11 fromthe hook 33 as also indicated by arrows in Fig. 4,.

The upper portion of the second U shaped member 11 is then scissoredabout the pivot points 17 and 18 with respect to the first U shapedmember 10 to pass through the first U shaped member to a relativeposition as indicated in Fig. 5.

With the second U shaped member 11 in the above described position, theseat 14 and leg rest 15 are swung downwardly about the pivot pin 38along with the back rest 13 and associated arm rests and tray so thatall of these elements and members assume the relative positions clearlyshown in Fig. 5. By proper dimensioning of the first and second U shapedleg members, the folded structure as shown will stand by itself and theupper central portion of the first U shaped member 10 will serve as aconvenient carrying handle.

To assemble the chair to operative position, a reverse procedure isfollowed, the backrest 13 and associated arm rests and tray 16 alongwith the seat 14 and leg rest all being swung upwardly about the pivotpin 38 a sufficient distance to permit the second U shaped member 11 tobe swung through the first U shaped member and scissored open to theposition shown in Fig. 4. The upper central portion of the second Ushaped member 11 is then fitted into the hook 33 and the leg rest 15swung downwardly to lock the member in position. The downwardly turnedends of the arm rests defined by the third U shaped member 12 are thensecured by the knurled knobs 23 and 24 to the front corners of the seat14 thereby securing the back rest in a stable position with respect tothe seat.

From the above description, it will be seen that the present inventionprovides a simple, safe, and economical folding high chair, comprisingonly seven basic elements which may be economically manufactured.

What is claimed is:

1. A folding high chair comprising, in unfolded 0p erative position: Afirst inverted U-shaped member; a second inverted U-shaped membershorter and narrower than said first member; means pivoting together therespective legs of said first and second U-shaped members in scissorsfashion whereby said second member may be scissored through said firstmember; a seat member; a foot rest member; first coupling means pivotingthe front edge of said seat and the upper edge of said foot rest memberstogether and to the central portion of said second inverted U-shapedmember; a back rest member; second coupling means pivoting the rear edgeof said seat and the lower edge of said back rest member together and tothe upper portion of said first inverted U- shaped member; and athirdhorizontally disposed U- shaped member having its central Uportionencircling the rear of said back rest and pivoted thereto at a pointspaced above said lower edge of the back rest, the free ends of saidthird U-shaped member extending forward to form arm rests for said seatand terminating in downwardly turned ends adapted to rest on the frontedge corners of said seat.

2. A folding high chair according to claim 1, in which said firstcoupling means includes a pivot pin; a plate member secured under thefront edge of said seat and having forward corner tabs encirclingrespectively the end portions of said pivot pin; a central front portionof said plate member being curved downwardly and rearwardly into a hookadapted to receive the central portion of said second inverted U-shapedmember; tab elements secured to the upper edge of said foot rest andencircling portions of said pivot pin; and locking hooks secured to saidupper edge portion of the foot rest adapted to engage and secure saidcentral portion of said second inverted U-shaped member within said hookwhen said foot rest is swung downwardly about said pivot pin to itsoperativeposition.

3. A folding chair according to claim 1, in which said second couplingmeans includes a pivot pin secured between the upper leg portions ofsaid first inverted U- shaped member; strip means secured to said loweredge of the back rest and encircling portions of said pivot pin; andjournal means secured to said rear edge of the seat member andencircling other portions of said pivot pin.

4. A folding chair according to claim 2, in which said second couplingmeans includes a pivot pin secured be- 5 tween the upper leg portions ofsaid first inverted U- shaped member; strip means secured to said loweredge of the back rest and encircling portions of said pivot pin; andjournal means secured to said rear edge of the seat member andencircling other portions of said pivot pin. 10

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS SwainJune 16, 1874 Ness Oct. 8, 1929 Lund Jan. 13, 1942 Bushnell Aug. 21,1945 Felsher June 21, 1949 Adler et a1. Jan. 18, 1955

